GUWAHATI, Jan 27 - The Prabrajan Virodhi Manch (PVM), a forum against infiltration, today slammed the BJP leader and State minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his argument in favour of enacting the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
In a statement, the PVM convener and Supreme Court advocate Upamanyu Hazarika said Sarma blames the Assam Accord and the cut-off date of 1971 as the need for bringing in the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which has no substance as the validity of the cut-off date of 1971 is pending consideration before a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court and the Assam government as well as the Congress and the AIUDF have taken a stand in favour of 1971 as the cut-off date.
Hazarika said that if the government is sincere, it should revise its stand in the Supreme Court and seek a cut-off date of 1948 at par with the rest of the country.
�Sarma said that Assam, unlike the rest of India, took the burden of 23 additional years of immigration, and the increased Muslim population on this count required the granting of citizenship to Hindu migrants. According to him, if the cut-off year had been 1948 like in the rest of India, then all Hindu and Muslim migrants could have been sent back and there was no need to make this distinction. But, factually he is incorrect as the Muslim population remained constant from 1951 to 1971 � 24.62% in 1951 and showing a fractional decline to 24.56% in 1971,� Hazarika said in the statement.
�For the last 32 months, this government, elected on the promise of throwing out Bangladeshis and protecting the indigenous people, has done nothing on the issue. Now, as the elections are around the corner, they are busy blaming everyone else for their own failures,� the statement added.
